1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking utensil such as a fryer for performing a variety of controls by way of operation at an operating panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At a cooking utensil such as a fryer, there are provided a controller having a variety of operation control programs stored therein and an operating panel for instructing to execute its operation control. At this operating panel, there are provided a display portion for displaying the name of a food on the menu, time or the like and a variety of switches such as an operating switch and a cooking start switch. In a normal mode of the cooking utensil (hereinafter, referred to as a “normal mode”), when the operating switch is operated to be turned ON, the controller operates heating means, and causes the display portion to display the name of a predetermined food on the menu. When the cooking start switch is operated to be turned ON, the controller executes operation control that a cooking timer operates in accordance with a set time for each food on the menu. On the other hand, at the operating panel, parameter settings or changes for each food on the menu or a variety of settings, changes or the like irrelevant to the food on the menu are provided as a specific operating mode (hereinafter, referred to as a “special mode”). A combining operation of a plurality of switches on the operating panel is performed so that these settings, changes or the like cannot be easily achieved, thereby making it possible to change over from a current mode to an arbitrary operating mode of the special modes.
Thus, a change over to a special mode by combination of other switches has been determined for each operating mode, in the case where a large number of operating modes are present, a variety of switch combinations are made, operation becomes cumbersome, and there is a higher possibility of operation mistakes, thereby impairing usability.